WINTHROP, Mass. – Saint Joseph's (Maine) is hoping for a triumphant return to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Championship Tournament as the Monks will enter this year's bracket as the No. 1 seed.
The Monks completed the regular season with an 11-2-1 [34 points] GNAC record (11-3-3 overall). They aim to return to the conference championship match after having a streak of five championship appearances snapped in 2022.
Johnson & Wales will be the No. 2 seed this year and will also be looking to return to the title match after finishing as the tournament runner-up a year ago. The Wildcats went 10-1-3 [33 points] in GNAC play this season (11-2-4 overall).
Also finishing with 33 points with a 10-1-3 conference (12-1-3 overall) record this season was reigning GNAC Champion, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.). With both clubs finishing with 33 points in the standings, the league's tiebreaking procedure was needed to determine seeding.
JWU was awarded the higher seed based on its head-to-head victory over the Blue Jays during the conference regular season.
Those three teams, along with No. 4 seed Albertus Magnus (8-2-4 [28 points] GNAC, 10-2-5 overall) will serve as the four quarterfinal hosts.
Hoping to join them in the GNAC Quarterfinals are the four GNAC Play-In round participants. The Play-In round is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 26, and features No. 7 seed New England College (6-5-3 [21 points] GNAC, 8-6-4 overall) hosting No. 10 seed Lasell (4-7-3 [15 points] GNAC, 4-9-3 overall) at 6 p.m. and No. 8 seed Regis (6-8-0 [18 points] GNAC, 6-10-0 overall) entertaining No. 9 seed Emmanuel (5-8-1 [16 points] GNAC, 6-10-1 overall) at 5 p.m.
The winners of the two Play-In games will play the top two seeds in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Oct. 28 with SJC hosting the Regis-Emmanuel winner and JWU hosting the NEC-Lasell victor. Also in the quarterfinals, the Blue Jays will host No. 6 seed Dean (7-4-3 [24 points] GNAC, 9-4-3 overall), while No. 5 seed Norwich (7-1-6 [27 points] GNAC, 7-2-7 overall) visits the Falcons.
The GNAC Quarterfinal winners will advance to play in the GNAC Semifinals on Tuesday, Oct. 31 with the prevailing teams competing for the GNAC Championship on Saturday, Nov. 4. The winner of the GNAC Championship match will be named the 2023 GNAC Men's Soccer Champion and earn the conference's automatic qualifier into the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship.
2023 GNAC Men's Soccer Tournament Schedule
Play-In – Thursday, Oct. 26 (Hosted by higher seeds)
#10 Lasell at #7 New England College, 6 p.m.
#9 Emmanuel at #8 Regis, 5 p.m.
Quarterfinals – Saturday, Oct. 28 (Hosted by higher seeds)
#8/9 Winner at #1 Saint Joseph's (Maine), 1 p.m.
#7/10 Winner at #2 Johnson & Wales, Noon
#6 Dean at #3 University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 1 p.m.
#5 Norwich at #4 Albertus Magnus, TBD
Semifinals – Tuesday, Oct. 31 (Hosted by higher seeds)
#1/8/9 Winner vs. #4/5 Winner, TBD
#2/7/10 Winner vs. #3/6 Winner, TBD
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 4
Semifinal winners, TBD
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 16 member institutions and over 4000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
COURTESY OF THE GNAC SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE
